The Reformation in Geneva, Switzerland

1. The Reformation in Geneva, Switzerland Calvin and the French Reformation

3. Jean Calvin (1509-1564) • The leader of the “Reformed” church after the death of Zwingli. • Produced 50 volumes of commentaries; 35 volumes of correspondence; 2500 unpublished sermons • Logical, clear, systematic thinker.

4. The Education of Jean Calvin • Born of humble ancestry • Yet maintained manners of nobility; father was a notary • Born at Noyon, Picardy, 60 miles northeast of Paris • 26 years younger than Luther • Belonged to second generation of reformers • Father wanted him to be a priest but Calvin studied law and pursued humanist studies (in Orleans 1528). • After his father’s death, he returns to Paris in 1531 • Receives the Doctor of Laws (1532) • His first book was a commentary on Seneca (1533)

5. Calvin Museum constructed at location of his house Noyon Cathedral

6. Calvin and Protestantism Testifies to some mysterious experience in 1532. • Very secret about it • Other students came to him to learn what he believed • Convinced of God’s sovereignty and omnipotence • Felt himself the chosen instrument of God • Wrote a sermon for Nicholas Cop that was preached on Nov 1, 1533. • It quoted Luther and was Protestant in tone. • Cop and Calvin had to flee Paris in 1534 because the persecution of Protestants had begun.

7. Jean Calvin (1509-1564) • After studying law in Paris and Orleans, he emerged in 1534 as a leading Reformer in France. • Francis I of France issued an edict suppressing Protestants in 1535. • In 1536 Calvin produced a brief, systematic summary of the Protestant faith. Through 26 editions and many translations, it became the classic statement of Protestantism—Institutes of the Christian Religion.

8. Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion • First published in 1536 in Basel and dedicated to Francis I, King of France. • First edition was only 6 chapters, but the last edition was 80 chapters. • Total of 10 editions (1536 to 1560), published in Latin and French. • The structure was originally based on the Apostle’s Creed—systematic, clear and orderly with strong rooting in Scripture and Augustine (and other church fathers). • The most influential book of the Reformation.

9. Geneva • Geneva was the focus of concern as Swiss Cantons were dividing between Protestant and Catholic, and French Catholic Savoy wanted to retain Geneva within its territory. • Protestant cities, like Bern, rescued Geneva from Savoy’s attack in 1530. • Farel (1489-1565), a reformer in Basel, came to Geneva in 1532 and persuaded magistrates to favor Reform by 1534 through several disputations. • By 1535, the city council gave Catholic clergy the choice to convert or leave the city. • Calvin, traveling through the city in July 1536, was convinced to remain as a leader of the Reformation there.

10. Geneva Reformation • The initial movements (1536-1538) did not go well and after a stay in Strasbourg (1538-1541), Calvin returned to the city triumphantly. • The source of the conflict was the relationship between the Council and the church. • Calvin favored ecclesiastical control of church discipline and regulating church ordinances while the Council wanted to control discipline. • Calvin was inexperienced, and the Council drove the Reformers out of the city in 1538.

11. Calvin in Strasbourg (1538-1541) • Calvin served a French refugee church in Strasbourg. • Bucer influenced Calvin: • Organization of the church • Meaning of the Lord’s Supper • The Importance of Church Discipline • The Role of the Holy Spirit in the Sanctification of the Believer.

12. Calvin in Strasbourg • Calvin married an Anabaptist’s widow, Idelette de Bure • Wrote his commentary on Romans • Met Melancthon at the 1541 dialogue. • Taught at an academy.

13. Creation Nature External Order (State) Recreation Scripture External Means Preaching Sacraments Church Discipline Internal Change Holy Spirit Sanctification Union with God in Christ The Ordinances of God

14. Calvin’s Theology • Wanted to restore purity of Christianity before corrupted by Roman Catholicism • Saw God as creator, preserver, governor of universe • Creation, Fall, Redemption as the story of Scripture. • God worked out one consistent scheme of redemption through a covenant of grace.

15. Calvin and Grace • Humanity sinful and incapable of good works • Cannot save itself • Dependent entirely on God’s grace • God’s justice satisfied by death of Christ • Believers justified when they trust in Christ • Christ takes humanity’s sin; believers are clothed with the perfect righteousness of Christ • Faith itself is a gift of God’s grace (like Zwingli)

16. Gallic Confession of Faith (1559) Human nature is wholly corrupted.  Blind in spirit and depraved in heart, humankind has lost all integrity; not a trace remains.  Humanity retains some capacity to distinguish between good and evil, but in seeking God even this light is turned to darkness.  Therefore people cannot approach God by their own intelligence and reason.  The human will may inspire people to a range of actions, but it remains utterly captive to sin, so that humankind has no freedom except that which God gives. 

17. Gallic Confession of Faith We believe that the foundation of our justification is the remission of our sins.  (In this, says David, we find our only happiness.)  This is why we reject all other means of seeking justification before God.  Rather than presuming our own virtue or merit, we rely solely on the obedience of Jesus Christ, which is ascribed to us for the covering over of our sins as well as for granting us favor before God. 

18. Gallic Confession of Faith (1559) We also reject all the various means by which people presume to be redeemed before God, disparaging the sacrificial suffering and death of Jesus Christ.  Finally, we consider purgatory to be an illusion found in the same marketplace as monastic vows, pilgrimages, prohibition of marriage and eating of meat, ceremonial days, private confession, indulgences, and everything else that people imagine will merit grace and salvation. We reject these things not only because of their false understanding of merit, but also because these are human inventions that burden consciences. 

19. Election & Preservation • Calvin believed in God’s eternal election: God has chosen who will be saved by his own grace. • Thus God will preserve his elect to eternal life • Calvin’s interest in the doctrine of predestination was pastoral—to give assurance. • Humanity has the responsibility to respond to God’s grace in holiness, good works, and faithful obedience

20. Gallic Confession of Faith (1559) We believe that from the general corruption and condemnation into which all are plunged, God rescues those who are elect in our Lord Jesus Christ according to God's eternal and unchanging counsel.   All this is by God's goodness and mercy alone, without regard to anyone's works, that the riches of God's mercy shine forth in them.   Others, however, are left in corruption and condemnation in order to demonstrate God's justice in them.  In reality, those who are rescued are no better than those who are left in corruption and condemnation.  God distinguishes between them according to his eternal counsel, determined in Jesus Christ before the creation of the world. 

21. Gallic Confession of Faith (1559) We believe that we are illuminated in faith by the unfathomable grace of the Holy Spirit.  Because God imparts this gracious and distinctive gift to whomever he chooses, the faithful have no cause to glorify themselves.  Instead, the faithful are doubly indebted that they have been chosen rather than others.  Moreover, faith is not given to the elect merely to introduce them to the way of righteousness, but to enable them to persevere in faith to the end.  God begins the way, and God brings it to completion. 

22. The Church to Calvin • The one Church of Christ was the sum of God’s elect, invisible, members known to God • Believers in one community become visible church • Exists wherever word faithfully preached and heard & sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper) faithfully administered • Published Ecclesiastical Ordinances 1541

23. Sacraments • Accepted Bucer’s doctrine of the spiritual (not substantial but neither merely symbolic) presence in communion • Wanted communion in all churches at least once weekly, but council denied his request • Held high view of importance and necessity of baptism: baptism is an instrumental means of grace through which God ordinarily works. • Consensu Tigurinus (Zurich Agreement) with Bullinger (1504-1575) in 1549.

24. Gallic Confession of Faith (1559) We believe that God truly and effectively gives us what is represented in the Lord's Supper and in Baptism, and that the signs are united with the true possession and benefit of all they present.  Thus, all who bring the receptacle of pure faith to the sacred table of Christ truly receive what the signs signify.  The body and blood of Jesus Christ are food and drink for the soul just as bread and wine are nourishment for the body. 

25. Gallic Confession of Faith (1559) We believe that the sacraments are joined to the Word so that it may be more fully confirmed.  The sacraments are pledges to us and seals of God's grace, giving needed aid and comfort to our faith because of our weakness and immaturity.  We believe that the sacraments are outward signs through which God works in the truth of his Spirit, and we know that what they signify is not in vain.  At the same time we hold that their substance and power are in Jesus Christ alone; apart from him, they are nothing more than shadow and smoke. 

26. Confession of Faith (1559) In Baptism we are grafted into the body of Christ, washed and cleansed by his blood, and renewed in holiness of life by his Spirit.  Although we are baptized only once, the benefit it signifies lasts through life and death, so that we have an enduring testimony that Jesus Christ will be our justification and sanctification forever. Baptism is a sacrament of faith and repentance, yet because God receives little children into his church together with their parents, we declare under the authority of Jesus Christ that little children born of the faithful ought to be baptized. 

27. Gallic Confession of Faith (1559) We confess that the holy Supper of the Lord is a testimony of our unity with Jesus Christ. He died only once and was raised for our sake, yet we are truly fed and are nourished by his flesh and blood.  Thus we are made one with him and his life is communicated to us.  Although he is in heaven until he comes to judge the world, we believe that he gives us life and nourishes us with the substance of his body and his blood.   This takes place in the unfathomable and incomprehensible power of his Spirit.  We maintain that this is done spiritually, which does not mean that we substitute imagination or fantasy for reality and truth, but that the greatness of this mystery exceeds the capacities of our minds and the order of nature.  In short, because it is heavenly, it can only be apprehended by faith. 

28. The Scriptures • Held high view of Scripture • One book, Old & New Testament • Revealing one plan of human redemption • His people truly a “People of the Book” • Believed that we should not act without Scriptural authority

29. Gallic Confession of Faith (1559) We believe that the word contained in the books of Scripture has come from God,  receiving its authority from God alone and not from humans.  As such, this word is the rule of all truth, containing everything necessary for the service of God and for our salvation.  Thus, neither humans nor angels are permitted to add to it, subtract from it, or change it in any way.  It follows that no authority may be set above Holy Scripture: not antiquity, or tradition, or majority opinion, or human wisdom; not judgments, or pronouncements, or edicts, or decrees, or councils; not visions or signs.  On the contrary, everything must be examined, measured, and reformed according to Scripture.  It is because they conform to the Word of God that we confess the  Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed.

30. Second Call to Geneva • Political shift in Geneva • People wanted preachers back • Catholic Church had sought to return and Calvin opposed through his Letter to Sadoleto • Farel persuaded him to return with him • Left Strasbourg in tears • Stayed in Geneva the rest of his life • Next 28 years

31. Geneva 1541-1564 • Very successful reformer • Preached, supervised church, encouraged commerce & trade, advised council • Founded University of Geneva • Public morality successfully enforced • Geneva became city of refuge for Protestants in exile from all over Europe

32. Geneva: The Reformed City • From 1541-1564, Geneva was the heartbeat of the “Reformed” Protestant faith (e.g., “Calvinism”). • It sent missionaries into France and southern France was significantly influenced (by 1561 2150 Protestant churches). • It became a refugee city for persecuted French, Dutch, Scottish and English Protestants. • Through this influence, the Netherlands became the locus of the “Dutch Reformed Church,” the Scottish Kirk became Presbyterian, the Puritans sought reform in England and the Huguenots were a religious and political force in France.

33. French Reformed Church • France had always had a certain independence (Gallicanism). • Calvin encouraged missionaries to France from Geneva—French pastors were “under the cross” (trained to be executed). • Henry II (1547-1559) persecuted the French Reformed church. • First National Synod of the French Reformed Church in 1559 and they adopted the “Gallic Confession.” • By 1562, over 2000 churches and 3,000,000 members in a nation of only 20,000,000 people.

34. Calvinism as a System • T – Total Depravity • U – Unconditional Election • L – Limited Atonement • I – Irresistible Grace • P – Perseverance of the Saints Synod of Dordt (1618-1619): the official confirmation of this system as the theology of the Reformed Faith (“Calvinism”).

35. The English Reformation The Anglican (Episcopal) Church

36. England Ready for Reformation • England had fiercely independent rulers. • Work of John Wycliffe (1324-1384) & Lollards (14-15th centuries). • Sola Scriptura, rejected relics/saints, favored clerical marriage, denied transubstantiation, vernacular translations, emphasized faith • “Twelve Conclusions” drawn up by the Lollards in 1395. • Resentment against papal interference • Strong humanist tradition (John Colet) • Writings of Erasmus & Luther • Though Henry VIII condemned Luther and was given title “Defender of the Faith” by Pope Leo X

37. Political Situation • Spain had a population of 8,000,000; France a population of 20,000,000, but England only 4,000,000. • After the loss of territory on the continent in the 100 years war, England sought to regain power and prestige. • England is regarded as a secondary and rather “backward” nation.

38. Henry VIII: King of England1509-1547 • Henry proclaimed “Defender of the Faith” for his response to Luther’s “Babylonian Captivity” • Theologically Catholic, but politically Protestant. • Persecuted Protestants throughout the 1520s. Executed Bible translators (e.g., William Tyndale). • Henry wanted to restore England’s prestige—as it was a secondary power in Europe at the time.

39. Henry VIII Wants a Divorce • Married to Catherine of Aragon • She was the wife of his deceased brother (received papal dispensation to marry her) • She only had one surviving child, Mary. • She was the Aunt of Emperor Charles V.

40. Anne Boleyn • She wanted to marry and Henry wanted a male heir—so, Henry needs a divorce. • Anne Boleyn bore him his daughter Elizabeth • Anne was ultimately executed on suspicion of unfaithfulness in 1536

41. Henry Had Problems • Cardinal Wolsey, Chancellor of England, refused to grant divorce • He was hoping for consideration for papacy • Also formed alliance with emperor Charles V who was the nephew of Catherine

42. Henry Had Problems • Pope Clement VII was unwilling to grant the divorce • Henry had received papal dispensation to marry sister-in-law • Clement under house arrest in Castle San Angelo in Rome by emperor’s forces Pope Clement VII

43. Henry Reacts • Dismisses Wolsey who died in disgrace in 1530 on his way to prison • Confiscated his palace of Hampton Court

44. Henry Reacts • Appointed Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury • Consulted Parliament • Gained their appointment as head of English Church, called the Reformation Parliament of 1529 • 1532, the act of “Submission of the Clergy to the King.”

45. Thomas Cranmer, 1489-1556 • Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII • Originally Lutheran, through his contact with Zurich, Strasbourg and Geneva he became increasingly Reformed • Architect of Protestant church in England

46. England Evicts the Pope • Pope excommunicated King Henry • Henry appointed his own bishops • Act of Supremacy 1534 forced all government officials to accept • Thomas More, Chancellor after Wolsey, would not accept • Executed Sir Thomas More

47. Henry Reorganized Church • Destroyed all the monasteries • Liturgy: Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer • Creed: Cranmer’s Ten Articles (1536) • Henry found it too Protestant • Replaced it with Catholic Six Articles (1539) • Act of Succession names Anne’s children as his heirs (no son)

48. Ten Articles (1536) • The binding authority of the Bible, the three œcumenical creeds, and the first four œcumenical councils • The necessity of baptism for salvation, even in the case of infants • The sacrament of penance, with confession and absolution, which are declared 'expedient and necessary' • The substantial, real, corporal presence of Christ's body and blood under the form of bread and wine in the eucharist • Justification by faith, joined with charity and obedience • The use of images in churches • The honoring of saints and the Virgin Mary • The invocation of saints • The observance of various rites and ceremonies as good, such as clerical vestments, sprinkling of holy water, bearing of candles on Candlemas-day, giving of ashes on Ash-Wednesday • The doctrine of purgatory, and prayers for the dead in purgatory

49. Six Articles (1539) • transubstantiation • the reasonableness of withholding of the cup from the laity during communion, • clerical celibacy, • observance of vows of chastity, • permission for private masses, • the importance of oral confession.

50. Thomas Cromwell named Vicar General to supervise the affairs of the Church (Even over the Archbishop of Canterbury)